I’ve always loved writing, ever since I was a little boy. For years it was comic strips, then it was TV and film scripts, and in between I dabbled with writing a book, but I never got much further than a chapter or three. It always seemed like too big a task. I’d write a few pages, stop to read it, then edit it, over and over again. Eventually, I’d give up, put the project to one side and do something more manageable.

Back in the summer of 2009 I was in the highlands of Scotland, spending time at my Aunt and Uncle’s home in the picturesque countryside close to Balmoral Castle. I’d picked up Stephen King’s book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and was eagerly reading it, trying to learn from the Master’s experience. It’s an invaluable resource for any writer, with plenty of things to consider, but the main lesson from that book is a simple one: Read every day, write every day.

A few months earlier, I’d started writing a book, another failed attempt that didn’t get further than Chapter Three. It was about a young boy who could travel in time through gravestones.

By the end of the holiday I’d finished King’s book. I came home and vowed to put into action what I’d learned on holiday. Neatly, it was the start of September, so I began to write every day, as much as I could. I picked up the barely-started time-travel novel and began to write, resisting the temptation to stop and go back over what I’d written.

And it worked! I got further than I ever had before! And I kept going until, by the 21st of November I’d completed the first draft of Yard Boy (later renamed Sorrowline). I’d managed to average just under 800 words per day, and I’d only failed to write anything at all on three days. On Writing had shown me how to complete a book.

Of course the book needed lots of editing before it was any good, but at least I had something to edit. I knew what my book was about because I’d actually finished it.

Eventually, after several rewrites, in 2011 Sorrowline won a Northern Writers Award, which helped me to find an agent, who managed to get me a two-book deal for Sorrowline and its sequel. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t read (and chosen to follow) the advice in On Writing.

Ten years later, I’ve written ten books and counting. Writing a book is possible, it just takes focus, dedication and perseverance.

Read every day, write every day. It really is that simple.

I’ve always loved writing, ever since I was a little boy. For years it was comic strips, then it was TV and film scripts, and in between I’d dabbled with writing a book, but I never got much further than a chapter or three. It always seemed like too big a task. I’d write a chapter, stop to read over it, then edit it, over and over again. Eventually, I’d give up, put the project to one side and do something more manageable.

Back in the summer of 2009 I was in the highlands of Scotland, spending time at my Aunt and Uncle’s home in the picturesque surroundings close to Balmoral Castle. I’d picked up Stephen King’s book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and was eagerly reading it, trying to learn from the Master’s experience. It’s an invaluable recourse for any writer, with plenty of things to consider, but the main lesson from that book is a simple one: Read every day, write every day.

A few months earlier, I’d started writing a book, another failed attempt to get further than Chapter Three. It was about a young boy who could travel in time through gravestones.

By the end of the holiday I’d finished King’s book. I came home and vowed to put into action what I’d learned on holiday. Neatly, it was the start of September, so I began to write every day, as much as I could. I picked up the barely-started time-travel novel and began to write, resisting the temptation to stop and go back over what I’d written.

And it worked! I got further than I ever had before! And I kept going until, by the 21st of November I’d completed the first draft of Yard Boy (later renamed Sorrowline). I’d managed to average just under 800 words per day, and I’d only failed to write anything at all on three days. On Writing had shown me how to complete a book.

Of course the book needed lots of editing before it was any good, but at least I had something to edit. I knew what my book was about because I’d actually finished it.

Eventually, after several rewrites, in 2011 Sorrowline won a Northern Writers Award, which helped me to find an agent, who managed to get me a two-book deal for Sorrowline and its sequel. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t read (and chosen to follow) the advice in On Writing.

Ten years later, I’ve written ten books and counting. Writing a book is possible, it just takes focus, dedication and perseverance.

You might have noticed that I’ve been a little quiet lately. (Maybe you haven’t, you’ve got a busy, demanding life to tame after all.) I haven’t sent out a newsletter in a while, and – more importantly! – my latest book has failed to appear. Arkship Omega was due out last month but, due to many other commitments, I’ve been unable to finish it in time.

I could have rushed it, I could have crammed in 6000 words a day and got it done in time, posted it on Amazon and toasted my last-minute, deadline-defying lack of planning. But I didn’t want to do that. This is the sixth, and final book in this part of the Arkship Saga, I’ve been working up to this conclusion for almost three years, and I didn’t think rushing it was fair on me, fair on you, or fair on the story.

So, I’m sorry it’s not out yet, and I’m sorry you have to wait a little longer, especially if like one reader who emailed me, you’ve read the whole saga over the summer and want to know what happens next. Book six is coming, I promise, it’s more than half-way there, but first I have to complete some other projects that pay the bills and allow me to continue to write.

One of those commissioned projects is a prose story for a well known TV show, of which I can say no more just yet, but I’ll be screaming about it in the near future.

But rest assured, Arkship Omega will be out soon, with a prequel trilogy to follow in the New Year. So in the meantime, if you haven’t already, there are five other books to read, not to mention three free short stories…

So while you wait for Arkship Omega to arrive, you can read two new stories set in the same universe. Both are set before book 1, Arkship Obsidian, and include characters from the main saga:

Arkship Graveyard: set 10 years before the events of book 1. Prince Thyred Kenric, war-weary and disillusioned, stumbles on the wreckage of an ancient arkship. But it’s not just any ordinary arkship – this one belonged to his grandfather and is rumoured to contain a secret weapon that could help end the war. But Thyred soon discovers that not everything is dead on board the long-forgotten arkship.

Arkship Sanctuary: set 23 years before book 1 and features a notorious villain from the saga: A young girl, alone on a vast arkship, must fight to survive as its former inhabitants, now drug-fuelled monsters, hunt her down, intent on infecting her with the toxic narcotic known as Gravel.

The prequel story, Arkship Countdown, is also included in this collection. These stories are free to download, so get reading now!

Now celebrating its 16th anniversary year, the PAGE Awards is, according to their website (and who am I to argue?), widely regarded as one of the industry’s top sources for new screenwriting talent. Each year some of Hollywood’s most influential producers, agents, managers, and development executives judge the contest and read the winning scripts, and as a result, dozens of past winners have secured representation, landed script assignments, signed option agreements on their work, and many now have movies and television shows in production, on the air, and in theatres.

Today I heard that I had made it to the Quarter Finals! That’s the top 10% of entries. Now, that’s still a big old field, more than 700 scripts, but I’m still delighted to have made it this far. Being in the top 10% of anything is a good thing, right? I’ll hear if I’ve made it through to the semi finals next month. Let’s see what happens from here.

Back in 2005 I took part in a campaign to help promote the North East of England as a great place to live and work. It started with a letter about the campaign which was sent to dozens of local businesses, including mine. At the time I was running my animation studio, Qurios Entertainment. I responded immediately to the letter (unusual for me!) saying how much I liked the idea and asking how I could support it. A representative of the campaign came to see me and, in no time at all, I was named as one of the ambassadors of the One North East Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign. What followed was a blur of publicity, starting with a photo shoot of me in my studio, perched next to a CRT monitor. It soon spread to local newspapers, billboards and even some promotion in London. It was exciting and embarrassing! I was interviewed by national newspapers and radio stations and, for a while, it felt like I was a very, very minor local celebrity.

But it kept going! For years I had my face in the underpass at Middlesbrough Railway Station. In all that time it somehow remained intact! No graffiti, no crude drawings, nothing. It lasted for almost a decade until it was eventually removed. The one in Newcastle Airport lasted even longer. I last saw it just a few years ago in 2016. Every time I travelled abroad my 2005 face would be waiting to greet me as I queued for customs. It was all very surreal!

Me with my poster in Newcastle Airport in 2016. The last sighting was in 2017 – more than a decade since the start of the campaign. The poster in the Middlesbrough Railway station underpass – this was taken in June 2010 and the poster survived for a few more years after that.

It wasn’t just me, of course. There were about a dozen faces of the campaign, some who were included in TV adverts. I went along to a launch event at the Tall Ships Race in 2005 and met some of the other people involved – innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and me.

Eventually, the campaign came to an end. I’m not sure what sort of impact it made, and it’s really hard to find anything about it now, but for a while I was a poster boy for the North East!

Hartlepool Business Mail, May 2005

The Hartlepool Mail, 14th May 2005

An article on the campaign from the Hartlepool Mail, 12th May 2005

A London taxi featuring my massive face! I also heard (but never saw evidence) that it was used in a London tube station.

Alan Wright’s article from the Hartlepool Mail, 21st May 2005

Interview for the Institute of Directors magazine, August 2005

The Passionate People, Passionate Places promotional image featuring me, Qurios and part of the Teesside University campus.

My framed poster, given to me in 2005 as a thank-you for being part of the Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign.

It’s here!Arkship Prophecy, book 5 in the Arkship Saga is available to read now!

As the Church of the Infinite forces its doctrine on the survivors of humanity, the battle-weary Prince Halstead finds himself torn between his desire for peace and the growing tide of resistance, led by his estranged wife Bara. As the survival of humanity hangs in the balance, Halstead must finally decide what the Infinite Gods want him to do, a decision that could change the balance of power across the Cluster forever.

Meanwhile, the followers of the prophet Gofal, in hiding from the brutal forces of the Church’s Inquisitors, work towards a better future, one that may demand the ultimate sacrifice of their outlawed cult.

It’s been a busy start to 2019, with me frantically working on Arkship Prophecy, the 5th book in the Arkship Saga, and my 10th novel to date! I can’t quite get my head round that, it’s such a weird concept. When did I write ten books? Like any big achievement, its only possible by breaking it down into lots and lots of little tasks. It’s taken me almost ten years to get this far, and it’s been a lot of hard work, but I’m really glad I did it.

Arkship Prophecy, book 5 in the Arkship Saga, is now available to pre-order. It’s due out next week, and you can get 25% off the launch price if you grab it today!

As the Church of the Infinite forces its doctrine on the survivors of humanity, the battle-weary Prince Halstead finds himself torn between his desire for peace and the growing tide of resistance, led by his estranged wife Bara. With the survival of humanity hanging in the balance, Halstead must finally decide what the Infinite Gods want him to do, a decision that could change the balance of power across the Cluster forever.

It’s 2019, the year of Blade Runner! It’s time to go buy yourself a flying car and book a trip to the off-world colonies to get away from the constant rain. (I live in the UK and I’m used to rain, so I’ll be fine right here.)

January is a good time to plan for the coming year. Here’s what I aim to do:

More books!No big surprise there, right? Arkship Prophecy is on pre-order right now, due out at the end of next month. Then there’s book six to think about. That’s the last volume in the main run of the Arkship Saga, although there are three prequels planned as well as several side stories. There’s also the prospect of me writing two separate licenced titles but those are not yet confirmed. They’re both science fiction but very different beasts. I plan to return to Tobin Artichoke later in the year with two more adventures, so I’m going to be busy.

ScreenplaysI’m in the middle of writing a post-apocalyptic love story which I hope to finish in the summer. I’ve really enjoyed doing this and I hope I can do more of this sort of thing as well as writing books.

Events and talksI’ve been doing less public events so that I can focus on writing, but I’ve not abandoned them completely. I’ve got a few school events coming up as well as some industry talks to writers and publishers.

AnimationI’m still working as an animator in between writing. There are more Doctor Who blu ray box sets coming out which include work from me.

My aim this year is to be productive but to avoid being the busy fool I’ve been in recent years. How about you? What’s your goals for 2019? Let me know what you’re up to.

The Arkship Saga continues with book five, Arkship Prophecy, which is now available to pre-order! Members of the Arkship Saga Facebook page have already seen the cover, but if you’re not a member then you can see it for yourself now! Just click this link!
What’s it all about? Well….

As the Church of the Infinite forces its doctrine on the survivors of humanity, the battle-weary Prince Halstead finds himself torn between his desire for peace and the growing tide of resistance, led by his estranged wife Bara. As the survival of humanity hangs in the balance, Halstead must finally decide what the Infinite Gods want him to do, a decision that could change the balance of power across the Cluster forever.

Meanwhile, the followers of the prophet Gofal, in hiding from the brutal forces of the Church’s Inquisitors, work towards a better future, one that may demand the ultimate sacrifice of their outlawed cult.

Past and future collide in this fifth volume of the explosive Arkship Saga. If you liked Battlestar Galactica, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series or The Expanse then this might be the series for you!

Yesterday, I was in Manchester for the Society of Authors Annual General Meeting. I’ve been on the committee of the Authors North sub-group for the last few years and, until yesterday, I was its Chair. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a story about how I got kicked off the committee, I was due to step down and hand over to the new Chair, the excellent Rhoda Baxter. My tenure as Chair was, thankfully, without incident. (Nothing was proved.)

I was helping to look after the registration desk when I heard a familiar name mentioned: Trevor Hoyle.

My brain began to buzz. How did I know that name? Then it came to me: Trevor Hoyle was the writer of one of my favourite books from my childhood, the first novel based on the BBC TV series, Blake’s 7.

“Aren’t you Trevor Hoyle? You wrote a Blake’s 7 book!”

I left the registration desk and caught up with a somewhat startled chap, as captured in this aggressive-looking picture taken by Colin Shelborn.

“Aren’t you Trevor Hoyle?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied, with all the nervousness of a man being accosted by a scary stranger.

“You worte a Blake’s 7 book!” I declared, like an idiot.

Trevor chuckled. “Well, I wrote three, actually.”

My collection of Trevor Hoyle books

Indeed he did. Here’s a selection of my own copies of those books, a mix of the UK and US editions. In fact, Trevor is an incredibly varied and prolific author:

“Trevor Hoyle has published fiction with John Calder: The Man Who Travelled on Motorways, Vail (a dystopian vision of Britain as a police state) and Blind Needle, a chase thriller set in the Lake District. His novel The Last Gasp is currently under option in Hollywood. In 2003 Pomona reissued Rule of Night (originally published in 1975), about skinheads in a northern town, which was Time Out’s Book of the Week and was highly praised in the Guardian and City Life. More recently Trevor Hoyle has written for BBC Radio 4. His first play, GIGO, won the Radio Times Drama Award, and another, Randle’s Scandals, about the rude Wigan comedian Frank Randle, was critically acclaimed. He also wrote and presented a feature for Radio 4, The Lighthouse Invites the Storm, in memory of the writer Malcolm Lowry.”

My chat to Trevor was brief – the registration desk was calling me – but it was a genuine thrill to meet someone who was part of my childhood. That copy of Blake’s 7 was well-read and fondly remembered.